In the dark winter of 2010, I listened to an engaging lecture on the Bayeux Tapestry given by Dr. Linda Paulson of Stanford University. On the screen behind the professor, colorful photos of the Tapestry moved from left to right reminding me of a medieval comic strip. The brightly colored panels of embroidery, depicting among many other things, the oath that Harold Godwin took in 1064 in the presence of Duke William of Normandy, captivated me. When Harold became King instead of Duke William, the oath became central to William’s decision to invade England from across the channel.

To accompany this segment of her class entitled War, Dr. Paulson assigned British historian David Howarth’s short novel titled 1066. As the course progressed, she selected a number of insightful and well-written books about war from Agincourt to Hastings, from Waterloo to the Civil War, and from World…